Leszek Szymański/PAP

Donald Tusk, leader of Poland’s main opposition party, Civic Platform (PO), has said Monday’s first sitting of the new parliament following elections is fundamental for a change for the better.

Addressing his party’s National Council ahead of the new Sejm (lower house)’s first sitting, Tusk said that millions of Polish men and women had been waiting eight years for this moment.

“For this day, when we will again be able to look with calm and trust upon the proceeding of the Sejm, to observe with calm and trust the actions of a democratically chosen government,” he said. “It is a special moment.”

Tusk expressed his thanks to voters “who so bravely, with such determination and faith, voted in a better Poland.”

Tusk referred to a coalition agreement initialled on Friday by him and the leaders of the centre-right Poland 2050 party, the head of the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL) and the co-leaders of the New Left, which PO’s National Council was to approve on Monday. He said this “home-grown” coalition would soon become “the first truly democratic Polish government for eight years.”

Tusk said there were no disputes among coalition members over fundamental issues, but cautioned that the coming months would be challenging.

“Difficult months await us; the geopolitical situation will be equally difficult or even more difficult,” he said. “We have innumerable problems to solve but we are in a position to overcome all challenges.”